Some of these groups are also equally prolific when it comes to spending on lobbying. During the first nine months of 2010, the National Association of Children’s Hospitals and the Association for Public Television Stations spent $822,000 and $480,000 on federal lobbying efforts, respectively.

In contrast, AARP — which hired lobbying firm Williams & Jensen — spent more than $12.9 million during the same period.

POST-STATE OF THE UNION, GUN CONTROL QUESTIONS: Following the assassination attempt against Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) on Jan. 8, gun control advocates pushed for changes to existing policy.

However, the fact that President Barack Obama did not mention gun control during Tuesday’s State of the Union Address is raising some questions, according to Politico.

In an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams, White House senior adviser David Plouffe said the administration plans to tackle gun control, but that the State of the Union Address was intended to focus on the economy.

Most of the major legislative action on gun control early this year has come from outside of the White House. Following the shootings earlier this month in Tucson, Ariz., Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) drafted legislation that would ban high-capacity ammunition magazines — the kind used in the Arizona shooting.

Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) also plans on introducing legislation that would make it illegal to possess a gun within 1,000 feet of a member of Congress, federal judges, the president or the vice president.

Gun control opponents have varied their lobbying efforts since the 2008 election cycle. In the first nine months of 2010, the National Rifle Association spent more than $2 million on lobbying expenditures.

MASSIVE DEFICIT POSSIBLE, BUT MAY FALL LATER: With talk of deficit reduction dominating headlines, the Congressional Budget Office gave members of both parties a lofty figure to aim for on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.

In its most recent report, the CBO says that the federal deficit could increase to around $1.5 trillion in 2011 if current policies remain the same. Thanks in part to the recession and the associated costs, the deficits in 2009 and 2010 — $1.4 trillion and $1.3 trillion, respectively — were found to be the highest since 1945.

However, the report also projects that under current laws, the deficit will fall from 2012 to 2014, going from $1.1 trillion to $533 billion.

The CBO’s report is likely to add further fuel to the agendas of Congress and the White House.

As OpenSecrets Blog previewed on Tuesday, Republicans freshmen have been pushing for large spending cuts in order to reduce the deficit. During the State of the Union Address on Tuesday, Obama also called for freezes to government spending for the next three years.

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